Currently, lithography is the most complicated and expensive process in mainstream microelectronic fabrication. As required chip feature sizes grow ever smaller, lithography techniques are continually updated to achieve the desired resolution. A significant component of the cost of lithography is the cost of manufacture of lithography masks. For certain types of lithography, greater resolution may be achievable using contact methods, in which a mask is placed in contact with a substrate, but these techniques may also risk damage to the mask and/or the substrate. Proximity printing techniques may avoid damage due to contact between the mask and the substrate, but may require fine control over the exact offset distance between the mask and substrate. Projection lithography systems keep the mask relatively remote from the substrate, but may be limited in resolution due to limitations in depth of field for high numerical aperture optics.